1. Field of the Invention (Technical Field)
The present invention relates to micro-imaging devices, particularly infrared imagers.
2. Description of Related Art
Revolutionary improvements in size and power consumption are required to realize extremely lightweight micro cameras. To that end, the present invention is of a highly integrated digital Focal Plane Array that combines a fully digital camera sensor engine-on-a-chip with a novel detector concept that enables high quantum efficiency, diffusion-limited detector performance in a small pixel by eliminating the perimeter and surface leakage currents. Together these innovations will allow the manufacture of low-cost completely uncooled shortwave infrared (SWIR) digital imagers compatible with, for example, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) micro-ball gimbaled packaging, with weights under 10 grams and the sensitivity to operate in nightglow environments. The detector concepts enable higher operating temperature midwave infrared (MWIR) and longwave infrared (LWIR) applications as well.